ABSTRACT

This chapter examines ways of understanding infl uences on people’s experiences of learning. It is designed as a tool for you to refl ect on what infl uences learning and to understand how personal experience and choice interact with the place we are learning in and with the wider world. It is based on the assumption that all learning stems from our histories as learners, how we are connected to others in our learning and how immediate and wider environments shape our responses to learning. Some frameworks for observing, analysing and ways of thinking about learning for education studies are introduced.